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Thursday, 1 January 2015

"Arabtec was going to be something new – an Emirati conglomerate. Its interests would span the globe, providing construction and engineering expertise hand in hand with some of the world’s biggest and most profitable companies.

Its shareholders would reap all the rewards from plans laid out last year by the then-chief executive Hasan Ismaik, and backed by major shareholder Aabar Investments, which evoked pre-crisis ambitions –the blue print would transform the builder of the Burj Khalifa from a big player in a small market to a global leader.

Last year began with a bang. Besides working on highly technical projects around the region, Arabtec was going to be a developer, committing to build a slew of towers in the UAE and a staggering $40 billion deal for 1 million homes in Egypt."

"Arabtec, the UAE’s largest listed builder, started last year in buoyant mood.

The company was in expansion mode after the Abu Dhabi government-owned fund Aabar increased its stake in the company in 2012 and took seats on the board, indicating to the world that it was putting its considerable financial weight behind the Dubai-based contractor, which had been hit hard by the global financial crisis.

With real estate markets once again booming and orders flooding in from the likes of the re-started Louvre museum on Saadiyat Island and the new Abu Dhabi Midfield Terminal, now was the time, it seemed, to cash in and expand."

"Oman on Thursday approved its budget for 2015 with a deficit of 8 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP).

The Omani Ministry of Finance said in a statement that the general budget for the fiscal year 2015 is estimated as general expenditure at 14.1 billion Omani riyals (Dh134.5 billion), an increase of 4.5 per cent from the expenditure estimations of last year’s estimates. The total public revenues were estimated at 11.6 billion riyals, a decline of 1 per cent compared to the approved revenue last year. Hence the estimated deficit of 2015 is 2.5 billion riyals, representing 21 per cent of the revenues and 8 per cent of gross domestic product.

Sultan Qaboos Bin Saeed, the Sultan of Oman on Thursday approved the state budget for fiscal year 2015."

"The Saudi and Oman indices ended in the positive territory on Thursday even as crude oil declined in New York overnight.

Saudi’s Tadawul index snapped a two-day losing streak in trade led by petrochemicals. The Tadawul All Share Index (Tasi) ended the session 0.91 per cent higher at 8,409.5, after losing close to 6 per cent in the previous two sessions.

“The Saudi index would go down and may test the support level of 8,333, and then it would recover 8,700,” said Osama Al Ashri, member of British organisation, Society of Technical Analysts."

"Most major Middle East stock markets ended 2014 with annual gains after wild swings which underlined their fragility as well as their promise to investors.

Gulf markets soared in the first half of the year as the region became more of a mainstream investment destination for foreigners with index compiler MSCI's upgrade of the United Arab Emirates and Qatar to emerging market status. Saudi Arabia's announcement that it would open its market to direct foreign investment in early 2015 added to interest in the region.

But markets then plunged in waves of panic selling during the last several months of this year as the slide in oil prices burst speculative bubbles in stocks."